I chose to become an American. I wasn't born here, but I wanted to be part of the country that sent people to the moon, invented baseball and apple pie, stopped the fascists in Europe, put I Dream of Jeannie on TV, and claimed Joey Ramone as a citizen. But most of all I wanted to be a part of the country where people were allowed to speak their mind.
And this Tuesday the people spoke.
There's an old saying that goes 'it's better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and erase all doubt.' Well, this Tuesday America erased all doubt.
Up until Tuesday I had hope. The country was being run by a jackass who'd fooled the country into voting for his aw shucks disposition and simplicity. He was a 'buddy', and although we can debate whether it's a wise move to hire a simpleton to run the country, I held on to the idea that Americans had been bamboozled. The wool pulled over their eyes. As a people, we've elected fools before and managed to correct it with the following election.
Then the people spoke. Despite the lying and the crimes and the deaths and the ridiculous amount of overwhelming evidence that George W. Bush was leading this country towards Armaggedon, America stepped to the polls, closed their eyes, covered their ears and voted with their ass.
And with their vote, America accepted his actions of the last four years. And to put it in a faith-based way that Americans seem to understand, all his sins are now yours.
You accepted the lies that led to war. You accepted the deaths of servicemen to settle a grudge. You accepted the attrocities of Guantanamo Bay and Abu Gharib. You accepted the fascistic turn our civil liberties are taking. You accepted that that those who are not JUST LIKE YOU, are less than you.
America, these sins are now shared by all of you.
Recently a friend and I were discussing 9/11 and he mentioned that this was the single largest loss of American life in one day. Bullshit, I said. The Battle of Antietam claimed more than 23,000 men killed, wounded, and missing in one single day, September 17,1862. That's a multitude higher. America has always been much more effective at destroying itself than an outside force could ever hope to.
